Plans for Te Ngae Rd upgrade soon to be announced

The New Zealand Transport Agency is almost ready to announce its options for the upgrade of Te Ngae Rd. Photo/File

There could be some light at the end of the tunnel for motorists using an increasingly congested Te Ngae Rd.

The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) has announced it will hold two information sessions to show residents what options the agency has come up with to help solve the congestion problem.

In February last year, Transport Minister Simon Bridges and the agency announced a $24 million roading package for Te Ngae Rd.

The roading package would also be used to upgrade State Highway 30/Te Ngae Rd with a new roundabout at the Tarawera Rd intersection and the possible four-laning of a section of Te Ngae Rd.

At the time, Mr Bridges said the work would begin in 2016 and would take two to three years to complete.

An agency spokesperson said a short list of options would be shared with the Rotorua community for their feedback at the information sessions.

The sessions are on Wednesday, April 12 from 10am to 1pm at the Sir Howard Morrison Performing Arts Centre and from 4pm to 7pm at Lynmore Primary School hall.

More details will be provided next week, the spokesperson said.

Business owners and residents in the area around the Te Ngae Rd/Tarawera Rd roundabout have previously told how traffic had been backed up towards the airport all summer and something needed to be done urgently.

Deputy mayor and Rotorua Lakes Council economic development portfolio leader Dave Donaldson said he agreed a solution to the problem needed to be found sooner rather than later.

He said an important part of that work involved the council's new spatial plan which was soon to be released for public feedback and considered the district's land requirements for the next few decades.

"I was at the airport a few days ago and the tail was out past Rotokawa School it was that bad.

"It is an issue and we do need to get it done soon, but in a well planned and considered way.

"I have observed all sorts of strategies being employed by drivers trying to get into Rotorua.

"People dropping kids at Lynmore School have told me it can take 15 minutes to get to the Tarawera roundabout from the lights at Motion Entertainment."

He said council staff had been working with the agency for some time at planning workshops to sort out traffic problems along Rotorua's eastern corridor.

"It will get worse in the short to medium-term . . . we have had our input about what needs to happen, but the debate will be to what extent they [NZTA] will fund the improvements and at what stage."